[Pudding of the Unemployed]
Between 1929 and 1939, the era known as the Great Depression, the average Quebec household income dropped by 44%. Unemployment left a good deal of the population destitute, forlorn and above all hungry.
It became a burden to prepare a decent supper and dessert was but a fleeting reverie. The extravagant confections of former decades were understandably harder to come by. Most families were now faced with the challenge of finding inventive ways to pull together a few bits and scraps to satiate an appetite and on occasion the sweet tooth. Poor man's pudding, the pudding of the unemployed or, in French, pouding au chomeur was one of these desserts. The simple cake originates back to the settlers of Acadia in Eastern Canada and of New France (Quebec). The moist sponge becomes tagged as grand-pere (grandfather) when it is paired with the delicious glaze of maple syrup.
Pouding au Chomeur
(Adapted from Recipezaar)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups boiling water (or ¾ cup boiling water)
3/4 cup brown sugar (or 2 cups maple syrup)
1 pinch nutmeg (optional)
Mix the first six ingredients together in a deep baking dish (the deeper the better to prevent spills).
This is the"batter".
Combine the boiling water,3/4 cup brown sugar and nutmeg.
Pour over the top of the"batter".
Bake 30 minutes at 350.
**NOTE:To make Grand-pere instead, replace the 2 cups boiling water and 3/4 cup brown sugar with 3/4 cup boiling water and 2 cups maple syrup- omit the nutmeg.
Either version is equally delicious.
